


a world of glittering hope

by GuardianKarenTerrier



Series: Week One: Oblivious [4]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Gift Giving, Lucky Charm, adrien augreste 2k19
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-08-04
Packaged: 2020-07-27 16:13:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20048878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuardianKarenTerrier/pseuds/GuardianKarenTerrier
Summary: Ladybug wonders if their kwami affect their day to day luck, and then makes an immediate attempt to improve Chat Noir's.





	a world of glittering hope

**Author's Note:**

> for the 'lucky charm' prompt for Adrien Augreste 2k19. thanks again to [Tempomental](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tempomental), [shinobicyrus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShinobiCyrus) and especially [CaughtFeelings](url) for beta'ing this!

"Lucky Charm!" Ladybug cries, fury in the lines of her mask as she hurls her yo-yo into the air. Chat Noir can't move at the moment, trapped in the quick-drying cement that seems to be this akuma's weapon of choice, but he still watches her with admiration.

And then confusion, as her Lucky Charm comes back down as a crowbar. Before he can begin to guess at her plan, Ladybug is using it to lever him out of his concrete prison.

Chat Noir blinks, brushing crumbling cement dust from his waist as Ladybug turns back to the akuma. "Uh... my Lady? How does that... help?"

"I need you," she says, over her shoulder to him, eyes still scanning sharply for danger. "I needed that Lucky Charm because I need _ you_, Chat Noir." She hesitates, then adds, softly, "And I know you hate being trapped. I didn't want to leave you."

The way he glows at hearing that almost gets him caught again, but he leaps out of the way in time. His ring beeps, reminding him that if he _ does _ get hit again neither Lucky Charm nor Cataclysm is going to save him.

(He does get hit again, in the end. It's to keep his Lady out of harm's way, though, and she defeats the villain moments later, so it's all right).

It's several nights later, when they're resting on the roof of someone's greenhouse during a break in patrol and staring up at what stars they can see, when Ladybug breaks the silence with his name. "Chat Noir?"

He turns his head towards her and blinks lazily.

She sits up, leaning over him as she brushes one pigtail back over her shoulder. "Does Plagg ever affect your luck? Your day to day luck, I mean, not with Cataclysm. I'm- something Tikki said made me curious."

Adrien shrugs without sitting up himself. "He _ says _ he doesn't but I'm not honestly sure how to tell. Too much changed in my life right when I met you both to really know for sure." His ears flick towards her as he adds, "But meeting you and Plagg was worth a whole lifetime's worth of bad luck."

Ladybug laughs, a little sadly. "I'm glad you think so, minou. I worry about you."

He stares up at her and blinks again. "You... do?"

She punches him lightly in the shoulder, rolling her eyes. "Of _ course _ I do. We're partners, I'll always worry."

Adrien relaxes, knowing he's smiling like an idiot. "I'm okay, you know."

"Yeah, well." She takes a deep breath and turns to check something on the greenhouse roof.

He watches with a distant sort of curiosity. He didn't pick their roof, this time. Ladybug did. He didn't _ think _ there was any particular reason but then he hadn't thought of her leaving anything here to find later. He forgets, sometimes, that it's only his suit that has pockets.

"It's not much," Ladybug starts, holding something in her closed hands. Something bright and silver flashes as it dangles outside her clenched fingers and draws Adrien's gaze to it. His eyes are fixed there, intrigued, as she continues. "And I know it might be, well, kind of dumb, considering everything we see. But I wanted you to have this." She opens her hand.

His breath catches.

He only knows what kind of bracelet it is because he looked up all kinds of lucky charms (the lowercase kind) after Marinette had given him hers- partly so that he could make hers in turn, partly out of the desire to _ know_.

This is a little more complicated than the ones he and Marinette had exchanged.

The silver bracelet should be easy enough to hide under the sleeves of his overshirt for him to wear it fairly often (if not all the time the way he wants to). The tiny charms, the ladybug and cat and paw print and clover, dangle so enticingly that he has to restrain himself from happily batting at them.

Adrien doesn't even notice that he's reaching for the charm bracelet until Ladybug presses it into his outstretched hand.

She's watching him with worry in her eyes. "Tikki said she wasn't really _ sure _ if our kwami affect our luck. And you-" She turns away for a moment, then doesn't finish her sentence. "Maybe it is stupid. But maybe, because it's us, it _ will _ bring you some good luck, kitty. It can't hurt, at least."

Adrien sits up, careful to move slowly enough that Ladybug can move back and away from him if she wants to, but she lets him hug her fiercely.

"Thank you, Bug," he whispers, hugging her more tightly but letting go the second he realises that makes her start to squirm. He backs off a little, too, just in case. "I'm gonna wear it to every fight."

She laughs a little, but scolds him, "Be careful with it, kitty. Don't- don't let it give you away."

It's only after she says it that the enormity of her gift really hits him. This could out him, if he's careless with it. This could reveal his identity, not just to her, but to anyone like Alya or Marinette or even Nino who's likely to be close enough to _ both _ Adrien and Chat Noir to notice. 

Ladybug is trusting him not to let that happen. 

He can't tell, later, whether or not the charm bracelet affects his luck or not. He only wears it openly as Chat Noir, because she gave it to him as Ladybug, and he keeps it hidden safely in Plagg's shirt pocket the rest of the time. Plagg grumbles, but the one time Adrien offers to move it to a different pocket or to his bag Plagg looks at him like he's said he'll only buy Swiss from now on.

When Adrien tries to tell his father about a photo shoot that turned out to be a lot more interesting than he'd thought it would, only for his father to brush him off and send him to his room to practice piano, Adrien takes the bracelet out and runs his fingers over it until Plagg complains that he's being sappy again.

(But Plagg is still refusing to let him move it to a different place during the day, so Adrien ignores him).

Adrien takes it out and slides it absently up and down his wrist, safely hidden under an overpriced jacket, on one of the longer and more stressful photo shoots he's had in a while.

He has to leave it in his bag for fencing, along with his kwami, and when he goes to fetch Plagg later he finds said kwami has curled it up into a comfortable little nest.

Maybe the charm doesn't really bring them luck. Adrien doesn't know. 

It does remind him that Ladybug cares about him and that really is worth all the luck in the world.

**Author's Note:**

> title this time is from blackmore's nights 'world of stone.'


End file.
